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The Good Ones Never Die
Stories don’t die. Not the really good ones. They sit in your head and they shift around but they don’t disappear. Sometimes if they are really, really good, they sink into your skin; change you somehow, without ever you ever knowing it. The true stories are the ones that matter the most, the ones that you can imagine happening right before you because somewhere in time, it did. You can walk along the grass where blood spilled and see nothing but lush green but know on that spot a war was fought here, that people died, wept and dreamed as you do. That is the power of the good stories. Thomas Merrick stood on the green lawn of the BARN, better known as the MACO Training Compound and saw youthful faces running past him. They wore the MACO grey, shark colours, as they ran the course. Eyes hungry, dreaming of blood and glory. Had he ever been that ''young? Had he ever wanted those things or had becoming a MACO been just a way to get out of his boozing father’s shadow? Probably not. For them and those who would come after, what happened on in his life time would become nothing but stories. The Exodus from the dead Earth, the 6000 strong, had survived the destruction of their world to settle on this far away planet of Ceti Alpha 5, now renamed Gaia. Twelve years of struggle to make Gaia a home, to replace the Earth lost, to repair their shattered lives. There wasn’t one person who wasn’t wounded or marked in someway. Himself included. They mended, they healed and then they thrived. The destroyed the Planet Killer, fought off an alien invasion, claimed the Mutara Sector for their own and resume their place in the galactic theatre. They sought out others to defend their worlds against the threat of the Xindi – destroying the dimensional warping spheres that were slowly making known space uninhabitable. From Cardassia Prime to the Romulan Star Empire, an alliance of planets such as the galaxy had never seen before had come together to destroy the threat once and for all. Gaia, Andoria, Vulcan, Tellar Prime, Romulus, Bajora, Cardassia and even the gentle but determined Betazed fought for two years, pushing the Xindi threat back into the Expanse. Thousands died in battle, including his wife Alexandra Styles. Her ship had been destroyed at the Battle of Azati Prime and there was an instance when it appeared that all would be lost because the Xindi had been the puppets of a powerful alien race capable of manipulating timelines to orchestrate the outcome they desired. But there were always bigger fish in the sea and there was no sea as big as space. Fate chose that moment, when all was at its darkest, when Tom had been ready to die with Alex, to stop the continued slaughter in one grand gesture. A race of aliens from a world no one had ever considered important because its inhabitants travelled around in horse drawn carts and seemed all together too benign to be of any use, stepped into the fray. They were called Organians. The façade they presented to the galaxy at large was only for the benefit of visitors. They were so evolved, they no longer needed bodies. Their minds were pure energy, an evolutionary leap a million years ahead of the rest of the galaxy. Peaceful, kindly and somewhat amused by the antics of their primitive neighbours, the Organian ended the war that had been fought for two years in an hour. They restricted the Xindi to a lush world where the five species could thrive, free of the manipulations of the time travelling aliens that had changed the course of history. Six months after the Battle of Azati Prime, Gaia was back to normal. The war was over and Gaia was the centre of the newly born United Federation of Planets. Romulus had declined to join because the charter demanded sovereign rights to all worlds and the establishment of General Order 1, the protection of all pre-warp civilisation from interference, were in conflict with their expansionist agenda. The Federation took note. Tom Merrick made Lt. Colonel at the age of 42 and considered retiring. He even considered drinking again at the thought of facing life without Alex but he loved her too much to destroy himself because of her. It was not what she would have wanted and he so honoured her memory by doing what was harder than self destructing. ''Living. He lived and he got the MACO ready for Starfleet whose boundaries were expanding beyond anything he and even the Iron Colonel, his royal highness, Governor Hayes ever imagined for their beloved Sharks. He watched the raw faces running the course, human, Betazed, Andorian and even a Bajoran, being cursed and sworn at by the lithe and somewhat feminine sergeant who had only recently come back to work after a three month sabbatical. Crazy redhead, Tom thought to himself. Crazy world actually but it was okay, he didn’t bloody mind because they were still stories to tell, small ones, big ones but the end even when written was never final. 'NOT THE END... '